1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electric machines and more particularly to electric machines which act to generate a propulsive force.
2. Description of Related Art
Machines that convert electrical energy to mechanical energy are commonplace throughout the modern world because electrical energy is one of the most convenient forms in which energy can be made available in a variety of circumstances. For this reason, the design of electromagnetic machines that convert electrical energy to mechanical energy continues to be an active area of investigation and development as evidenced by the art cited below.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,144,467, issued to Fumio Nakajima et al. on Mar. 13, 1979, discloses a pulse electric motor for use in watches and clocks. The motor of Nakajima et al. uses two permanent magnetic disks mounted on a shaft and independently excitable stator coils to cause rotation of the shaft.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,329,971, issued to George A. Kemeny et al. on May 18, 1982, discloses a rail gun for accelerating a projectile to high velocities.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,939,976, issued to Michael A. Minovitch on Jul. 10, 1990, and U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,093,313, issued to Michael A. Minovitch on Mar. 3, 1992, show an orbital launch system which uses the magnetic field generated by giant superconducting field coils to propel a launch vehicle having a superconducting dipole coil that several kilometers in diameter.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,142,861, issued to Rex L. Schlicher et al. on Sep. 1, 1992, shows an electromagnetic propulsion system based on an extremely low frequency antenna structure driven by a matched high current, pulsed power supply.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,197,279, issued to James R. Taylor on Mar. 30, 1993, shows an electromagnetic propulsion engine which uses rearwardly directed magnetic field energy to produce a reaction force which propels the engine, and a vehicle in which the engine is mounted, forward.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,473,233, issued to Mark A. Stull et al. on Dec. 5, 1995, shows an electromagnetic transportation system which uses wheeled vehicles propelled by a linear synchronous motor embedded in a dedicated guide way upon which the vehicles travel.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,483,111, issued to Stephen B. Kuznetsov on Jan. 9, 1996, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,628,253, issued to Masanori Ozeki et al. on May 13, 1997, relate to propulsion systems for use with magnetically levitated trains.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,653,175, issued to George Truett Milligan on Aug. 5, 1997, shows a vacuum highway and vehicle system wherein an electromagnetic propulsion system is incorporated into each vehicle for accelerating and decelerating the vehicles.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,705,871, issued to Yuzuru Suzuki et al. on Jan. 6, 1998, shows a pulse generator having a rotor made of permanent magnets and a stator having radially oriented coils.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,717,316, issued to Teruo Kawai on Feb. 10, 1998, shows an electric motor having radially oriented stator coils and a rotor with radially oriented permanent magnets.
German Patent Number 27 56 379, by Hans Keller, dated Jun. 21, 1979, shows an electromagnetic device that causes a lever arm to pivot.
U.K. Patent Application Number 2 132 322, by Carl John Heyne, dated Jul. 4, 1984, shows an electromagnetic projectile launcher which uses a conventional powder burning gun to initially boost the projectile.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed. In particular, none of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, teach or suggest a set of secondary coils arranged into a ring or a set of primary coils through which the set of secondary coils successively pass as the ring rotates.